Schenectady contends after-hours club lacked local certificate of use

Published 10:27 pm, Wednesday, November 28, 2012

SCHENECTADY — The owner of a shuttered Hamilton Hill building that once housed a popular after-hours nightclub has been accused of violating a city code after a man was slain outside the building last month.

Timothy McFarland, who recently returned to Schenectady from Florida, where he now lives, was charged Wednesday by police with operating the Masons Club without having a certificate of use, which is required by the city for any business that sells alcohol. It is different from a state liquor license.

McFarland is facing the city charge that specifically relates to the early morning hours of Oct. 27, when police were summoned to the building at 548 Schenectady St. for a report of gunshots.

McFarland told the Times Union Wednesday that although the establishment is registered with the city to the Brothers of Saint Paul, Lodge 282 Inc., he has been renting it for the past few months to Jada Tirado.

Earlier this month, Tirado, a Schenectady resident, was charged with the same violation as McFarland, 48. She has pleaded not guilty to the violation. He is due back in court Dec. 10.

McFarland, who said he relocated to the Orlando area about six months ago after retiring, said he has retained an attorney. He plans to take Tirado to court for trying to break the contract they had agreed to before he left the city.

Under the terms of the deal, McFarland said, Tirado agreed to pay him $10,000 a month, pay the roughly $36,000 in back taxes and purchase the building for $185,000.

He now worries that the killing outside the bar, also known as Club 548, has tarnished the Mason name and made the building worthless.

"We can't even sell the building and our name is dirty," said McFarland, who also said the city's hard-line stance on the club was unfair. "This is a good organization and we don't need people to badmouth the Masons and the brothers."

In another case, the temporary liquor license of Club XI at 11 N. Broadway was revoked Wednesday, three days after a large fight inside and outside the business during the early morning hours led to three people being stabbed, police said. Mayor Gary McCarthy said the city is going after problem clubs.

"I expect city businesses to operate in a responsible manner to ensure public safety," he stated. "If they fail to do so, we will leverage all resources available to us to take the necessary steps to close the business."

The club will be able to reapply for its liquor license after 30 days, at which time its application will go before a review board at the State Liquor Authority.

Besides the Masons Club and Club XI, the city has also closed Joe's Bar in Mont Pleasant following a deadly shooting last year.